Blanket
by fire.engine.red.3
Summary: Rukia's recuperating in SS while Renji's stuck with paperwork. Blankets and cold nights.


**These are just potential "missing moments" between Renji and Rukia during the SS arc. Comments are most welcome!  
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**I don't own Bleach. I wish I own Renji though.  
**

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The day after Ichigo and the others left for Karakura town, Renji found himself faced with one the biggest challenges in his tenure as lieutenant of the 6th division to date: a towering pile of paperwork dumped unceremoniously on the desk in front of him.

He mutters, "Damn that Ichigo… destroys half of Seireitei… leaves all this mess… he had to injure Byakuya… and who's going to clean up? Me! That's who! Orange-haired git…"

He knows that he's grumbling just for the sake of complaining. He is in the Kuchiki house picking through the accumulated paperwork that he and the 6th Division taicho neglected these past weeks due to other -um- more pressing issues. The first on his to-do-list was trying to prevent an execution, while in the case of Byakuya, it was to _ensure_ it.

The whole fiasco seems like a blur to him. Now, there are still so many things to deal with, to rediscover and to heal. The whole of Soul Society was turned upside down after that awesome display of betrayal. There is also the thought of that loud-mouthed bastard storming in Seireitei. It still irks him somewhat. It is not like he doesn't know the real reason for his annoyance. He just refuses to let it surface and buries it even more deeply inside him. He decides that for today, he would indulge himself by cursing that strawberry-headed-neanderthal-idiotic-punk. Besides, it is good therapy.

Amidst all these, his only consolation is that *_she_* is back. Rukia is back, and alive. And as a real bonus, they apparently can be in the same room again without hurting each other – much.

His thoughts go back to the task at hand. He can barely see Byakuya's desk from all the papers strewn about. Why can't the 6th division handle their paperwork like the 11th? He sighs, sits down and starts working, taking care of the details required to finish these reports accordingly. When he looks up from his work, it is dark and the moon is already high in the horizon. An image of Ikkaku flashes in his head.

"That's it!" he decides that NOW is a good time to stop.

He stretches his long arms, clears the table and files the finished papers in Byakuya's home office. His legs are cramping after those long hours of sitting. He walks out and breathes in the cool night air. He is too worked up to sleep, too tired to work. He reached the point past exhaustion, so he decides to take the long route to his sleeping quarters.

Rukia has been shifting on her futon, turning one way and the other. She ought to rest and recover but after sleeping all day there is nothing else to do at night. These days are relatively peaceful compared to the whirlwind of events earlier this month. She discovered a lot about herself the past few days: she had a sister. The knowledge is both comforting and strange in more than one level. She has no memory of her older sister. It is plain that it disturbs her rest. It is not just her sister who flits in her mind: Nii-sama, Ukitake-taicho, Ishida, Chad, Inoue, Ichigo - everybody who played a part in her rescue. She wraps her arms around her, her body remembering Renji's death grip on her at Soukyoku Hill. Given all that, how can one expect to sleep well at night?

She knows that her job right now is to recover her strength and be ready to resume her duties as shinigami. So she continues to shift her position in bed. She thinks _maybe I need to sleep in a closet, _remembering her days in Karakura town_. _Deciding that if servants find her futon empty in the morning and discovers her in the closet, she has to have a good alibi. She ponders which of the many excuses will earn a reaction from her brother. She grins despite herself. Granted that a tiny closet isn't world's best place to sleep but the fact is, she fits in there quite snuggly. Back in the human world, the presence of the other person in the room reassures her. She's not sure why, but for those months away from Seireitei she was able to find rest and refuge in that particular closet.

Her mind returns to her current condition. Sleep is eluding her, so she lifts her blanket, stands up, opens the door and starts to walk towards the gardens and the koi pond. The moon is high and its reflection is just as bright on the calm water. She sits on the bench near the cherry tree facing the pond. It is unusually cold this night, but the cold never really bothered her. She sits there comfortable with herself – mooning, so to speak.

Rukia felt his reiatsu first.

"Hey," Renji mutters as he strode along the stone path of the garden. She looks up at him and smiles. He appears tired but content with himself.

"Aren't you supposed to be resting? Why are you up this late at night?" he sits down on the other side of the bench, extending his legs and crossing his arms behind him.

"Couldn't sleep"

He raises an eyebrow.

"Had too much already"

He glances briefly at her and proceeds to look across the water.

"And why are you here?" The point is moot, but she asked anyway.

"Had to finish something for your brother, he wants it before breakfast."

"Hmm, he would."

A light breeze rustled the leaves. The full moon is the only thing in the sky.

"So…" she said after a while.

"So," His eyes are closed, resting it but quite awake.

"Being fuko-taicho, is it everything you wanted?"

"Ha!" he snorts, opens his eyes and stares into space, "I should be training with Zabimaru right now instead on swimming in paperwork."

"Yeah, you kinda look like a drowned rat just now"

He mumbles an inarticulate agreement.

After a moment, he stretches his arms and sighs. His eyes were at the moon's reflection in the water and says almost in a whisper,

"No, not really."

She turns her eyes from the water and studies his profile under the shadow of the tree branches. It has been a while since she saw him like this. She doesn't even remember the last time they had a conversation within arms reach without sarcasm, without the scathing remarks, without the anger and the pain.

"You're not happy?"

Did she really want to know? And what would she do with that information anyway? There must be million other things to talk about, why go there? It is much too early to delve into these things now that they are just starting to gather the pieces of what they lost before.

He looks at her this time, hunching and meeting her gaze trying to find something in her eyes - trying desperately for her to see something in his.

"I am now."

He wants to tell her more. How much he missed her, how he needs her, how he....

He pushes those thoughts away. Here they are - together- after being estranged for decades; despite of the many complications that their separation introduced. They both changed during that time – he'll just have to hope that there is still something that he can salvage. Drowned rat he might look like, but he can still gasp for air and swim --- or so he hopes.

He returns to his lazy slouch on the bench. Her already large eyes became slightly larger and she turns her head away slowly. They sat there unspeaking, looking at the bright moonlit sky. She thinks that it has been too long - too long since they last sat together comfortably, silently soaking up each other's presence. It was like coming home after an endless, tiring journey.

Eventually, clouds started to gather and covered the moon.

"Ya really should go back and rest. My head will be on the breakfast platter if I let you stay outside this late any longer." he begins to stand up.

She follows suit. "I doubt it. They do try to serve food with substance here, not empty boneheads…"

He eyes her and huffs, "Idiot".

He's too tired to retort any further. She beams at him.

They start to walk side by side back to her room. When they reach the wooden landing at her door, she sees her room through the moonlight. Her crumpled bedding jogs her memory…

"Do you remember that hut where we used to sleep with the others?" she asks with a grin creeping to her face.

He snorts. "Yeah - the stinky feet, the snoring, the _drool_…", he scowls at some vaguely remembered detail of that last one.

She giggles, thinking of the same thing. He is taken aback with the giggle. Oh how he missed that tinkling sound! She continues inside her room and starts getting into her futon. Leaning by her door, he waits for her to get settled in. She is arranging her messed-up blanket, readying herself to sleep when he walks towards her. It only takes a few long strides and he reaches her bed. He leans and then kneels beside her.

"Tseh! Such a baby sometimes. Figures… tiny thing… never really grew up…"

Her eyes flash. She is about to clobber him, shinigami powers returned or not, but his tender gaze and gentle hands on her blanket arrest her. She stays put and let him tuck her in.

Fragile. That is how she looks like, but looks can be deceiving - especially with this one, he muses. He knows that steel runs through her spine. He has seen her strength time and time again. And yet despite all that…

"Here…" He pats the blanket close to her tiny body, uncharacteristically fussing like a mother duck. His eyes crinkled as he does this. He looks at her and her expression warms him – surprise mixed with amusement and something else he cannot put his finger at.

Another memory flitted from their many shared ones.

_It was during a cold night just like this when everybody is sleeping. A particularly loud snore fills the whole room that he wakes up with a start. He scowls for having been woken up and raises his head from the pile of arms and legs. He sees the familiar figure in the shadows curled tightly like a ball. She sleeps slightly apart from the boys - not too far, just near enough to share their warmth but not the slobbering mess. He disentangles himself and crawls closer to her. He takes the tattered blanket that shifted while she slept and covers her, gently patting her sides so she doesn't loose it again. She wakes up from the touch, and in half-sleep, smiles gratefully at him with such trusting eyes. _

That is how she looks like right now.

"G'night Rukia".

"Good night Renji".


End file.
